Have you heard about these Power Bands, or Power Balance bracelets? The claims by the manufacturer and at countless demos are that these bands improve balance, flexibility, endurance, and strength by employing holograms which send frequencies that somehow interact with your body’s frequencies or electric field or glaven or some other undefinable manifestation.

Yeah. You can imagine what I think about that. And if you can’t, I’ll be clear: that claim is complete nonsense. Literally, it makes no sense. Holograms don’t emit anything, frequency or otherwise; there’s no such thing as your body’s frequency; and there’s no way inside the laws of physics that a rubber band with a cheap plastic hologram in it can affect your body, unless a) you’re allergic to rubber, or 2) it hits you at meteoric velocities.

We clear? OK.

So why on Earth would such a product be sold with a University logo on it? Yet, that’s what’s happening with the University of Colorado, among other institutions. Power Bands are being sold with the CU logo on them.

Now let me be careful here. These bands are being sold by the Power Force company online, as well as by the CU Athletic Department. The Athletic Department is separate from the University itself, and is the entity that licenses the logo used ("Ralphie" the buffalo).

Still, unsurprisingly, some local skeptics have taken exception to this, and have contacted the University about it. What did surprise me was how dismissively they were rebuffed. You can read about it at Stuart Robbins’ Exposing Pseudoastronomy site (Part 1, Part 2) and by Rachael Acks (Part 1 and Part 2).

Again, the claim that the University is not actually endorsing the product may be literally true. But in practice that justification rests on a razor’s edge. As you can see if you look at the product in question, it has the Buffalo and the letters "CU" on it. It doesn’t say "CU Athletic Department", it just says CU. Any customer buying that product will see that logo and assume it’s the University endorsing the product. If some product making medical and physical claims has a University logo on it, then what is the buyer supposed to expect?

Rachael and Stuart are hoping to drum up some attention about this. I certainly hope they can. This is embarrassing to a University that has global standing in academic, scientific, and medical research. To be honest, I’m not sure what can be done; if the Athletic Department is in charge, I’m not sure that the University itself could stop this even if they wanted to. But given the response letters written on behalf of the university, it’s clear they’re not even interested in trying.

I’ll leave you with this: my friend and fellow skeptic Richard Saunders, who has shown quite clearly how these devices fail even the simplest tests… and just how easily the demonstrations can be faked (his debunking starts at the 2:45 mark).

there’s no way inside the laws of physics that a rubber band with a cheap plastic hologram in it can affect your body, unless a) you’re allergic to rubber, or 2) it hits you at meteoric velocities.

or iii) you swallow it and it causes a bowel obstruction, or Δ) you wear it on the job in a high-tech manufacturing plant and get fired for wearing a silicone bracelet against regulations.

When money is involved, it seems sponsorship is easy to get. I’m sure the university isn’t so much afraid of people thinking they endorse pseudoscience as they are “meh” about the effect this would actually have on their reputation. As far as they’re concerned, this is probably about like somebody selling novelty license plate frames with the university’s name on it.

I have also been amazed at the completely dismissive attitude by University officials in regards to this, at least on their public face. Amazing the excuses the Marketing Director and Spokesperson (Bronson Hilliard) makes in mine and Rachael’s second posts.

I would like to encourage any and all who are unhappy with this to contact the administration of a local university to you that licenses these products. On my second post that Phil linked to, Reed put in the comments the current list of universities that PowerForce has licensed logos. I’m sure that in any standard contract there are escape clauses for fraud or deceit.

The dealer in this video seemed to genuinely in it. I was convinced that he did until the debunking proved he was deliberately tricking people with his demonstration.

I find the people who con people with nonsense gimmicks far more despicable than the true believers. The believers are responding to our first nature to accept what we experience. It is to be hoped that with education they could be brought to face reality.
But the cons, are manipulative bastards.

Ever seen an MLB game? It seems 3/4ths of the players are wearing them. I was watching the LLWS this year, and what do ya know, they are of course mimicking their heroes, and sporting these things as well.

While the rubber bands may not affect your body directly, the psychological factor should never be underestimated – especially in professional sports. Or, as one coach of a local team put it in newspaper interview when asked about the Power Balance things some of his players wear:
“At first we were a bit puzzled and laughing about them, but when the players said they feel it makes them perform better on the field, I said ok, if you think so, use two”.

They may be nothing more but plasebo, but in sports even plasebo can help to give you that little edge you need to win. I can’t quote any research, but I think many if not most teams and also some individual athletes have rituals and customs bordering on the superstitious they use when competing.

A powerband may be a bit more expensive, but it’s no less silly than always putting your shoes on in the same order or touching the ground before going on the field or whatever and thinking it makes you win or lose.

In a lawsuit it is a very important point that the logo used is indistinguishable (or at least not easily distinguishable by non-experts) from the University’s logo. No matter how much some administrator with no knowledge of the law may claim that CU does not endorse the bands, a judge may see things differently.

@Non-believer #6: That’s not quite right – even if the sales person is using what some (like myself) would think of as obvious party tricks, that person is not necessarily aware of it themselves.

The very existence of an “athletic department” is antithetical to the goals of a university. To be clear, I am referring to an entertainment company operating under the name of the university, not to physical training of the student bodies. When you have a quasi independent entertainment company using the school’s name, and filling the ranks with incompetent students via athletic “scholarships” (if they were qualified, then you could get them an academic scholarship, you know, the kind for scholars?)

That the entertainment company is further diluting/polluting the school’s “brand” by selling fraudulent pseudo-scientific trinkets is hardly noteworthy – you are worried about acne on a cancer patient.

“in sports even plasebo can help to give you that little edge you need to win. I can’t quote any research, but I think many if not most teams and also some individual athletes have rituals and customs bordering on the superstitious they use when competing.”

Superstition seems related to OCD (my estimation, not from research). Like the OC personality that has too touch every parking meter they pass or can never step on a sidewalk line or crack. At least the superstitious person has a belief that it helps them win. Wearing a special shirt or a rubber band may diminish anxiety and allow them to play better.

Having said that, I think the university is just looking at the bottom line. I wonder how much that outfit is paying for use of their logo?

Really? Holograms affecting your body’s EM aura? I thought they were supposed to be magic magnets or something like that. Equally silly, of course, but come ON. :/

How is it that, in this age of amped-up technology, people are slipping further and further back towards superstition, snake-oil and pseudoscience? Have we bombarded people with so many new advancements that (understandably) they can’t quite understand the science involved and therefore have opened their minds up to basically anything someone might propose, even if it’s clearly a get-rich-quick scheme? (Hint: anything that’s available in “3 easy installments of $19.95″ probably isn’t real cutting-edge science.*) Or do people just like to believe in things, no matter how advanced the technology around them gets?

I like to wear a string of BuckyBalls for a bracelet sometimes (gotten from ThinkGeek http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/bbe8/ …these are wickedcool) and they are basically super-strong rare earth magnets. 35-40 of them surround my wrist right at a pulse point for 8-10 hours. I feel absolutely no differently, other than the fact that they give me something to futz with if I get bored in a meeting. But as of yet I haven’t discovered any newly-bestowed super powers.

Maybe my aura is broken.

*This does not apply to my Salad Spinner or Kitchen Chopper. I love them and they were worth every cent.

There are a number of players in the Dutch soccer team who swear that these bands do miracles for them. When they reached the finals of the World Cup last summer, tens of thousands of the bands were sold in The Netherlands alone.

Because reaching a World Cup final could not possibly be the result of… you know… skills.

I pretended to do some online research, and uncover their mechanism of action. I put some tap water in a metal water bottle, and made up some nonsense about it being filled with salt water, and the metal bottle doing something to your body’s electric field and blah blah blah.

I did the same test they did in that video, asking her to hold the water bottle. I got the exact same “results.” I then took a big drink from the water bottle.

I just ordered some Placebo Bands, http://skepticbros.com/store/. Since CU is in my back yard, I hope to have some interesting conversations here in Boulder!

@Mike: A lie is still a lie. In this case, it’s a lie with a 95+% profit margin. But even if it were a simple rubber band from the office supply store and sold for $0.10, it would still be a lie. If we, as humans, value things like honesty and integrity then we should not accept any lie.

These same demonstrations have been used to sell similar products for decades. This is just the latest wave of them. Honestly, I don’t understand how anyone can fail to see the trick involved. It’s blatantly obvious.

It doesn’t matter how low you set the gullibility bar. Someone will dig a hole to crawl under it.

Oh lord I friggin’ HATE those things. The gym I go to (24 Hour Fitness, no less – not a hole-in-the-wall place!!) is selling those in a display on the counter. Every time I pass it I want to rip it open and try to fit one of those bands around the neck of the manager (or whoevers idea it was to sell those there). RAWR!!!

I think the thing I hate most about woo devices like these are the fact that I’m sure I could make metric ass-tons of money inventing/selling them, and yet my personal scruples prevent me from trying to do so.

Contact the university’s Development Office and let them know that you are not going to give them any money if they continue to support that nonsense. Also let them know that you will be telling your friends from college and urging them not to donate.

I always wanted to find one of the assh0les “demonstrating” these in shopping malls.

My plan: during the first “balance test” I’d do my best to stay standing, of course. Then, after putting the band on, I’d flop over on the floor just as soon as the guy touched me, howl with pain and threaten to sue him.
“It made my balance worse!!!”
I’d angrily totter away, falling into benches and walls
A guy can dream…

I’ve always wondered what would happen if you asked the guy hawking the thing to put it on and have YOU try to push ‘im over

@J Major: Hahaha, better yet, kinda sidle up and say “I just wanted to thank you! These c0ckrings have done wonders for my sex life! I’m starting to get a bit of a rash, though – is that normal? I can show you… ”

Ah, these demos must be a comedy goldmine if you know what you’re doing I wish I could find one!

That right there is one big reason I am *NOT* much of an environmentalist. Yeesh! Although Linka was a cute math whiz.

My plan: during the first “balance test” I’d do my best to stay standing, of course. Then, after putting the band on, I’d flop over on the floor just as soon as the guy touched me, howl with pain and threaten to sue him.

Maybe some of their web sites say when and where some demos will be? Make sure to video it and post on YouTube.

I am a CU grad student. I have emailed the Denver Post, the Colorado Daily, and the Boulder Daily Camera about this. In addition, I am going to draft a letter to the university along with some of my fellow students.

Practice a bit at home until you have the balance test technique down. Then go to the store and offer to test the sales person or potential customers. Bring your own set of “power bands” and sell them
for $1.00 and donate the proceeds. Put these schmucks out of business.

And we laugh at the “snake oil” salesmen of old. Amazing what dumb things folks will believe and will spend their money on. At almost $30 a band the company must be laughing all the way to the bank. “Collect them all.” Fat chance of that. I’ve got some rubber bands that will work just as well.

“Hey Professor,
did you know that people are selling bracelets with the university’s logo on them that purportedly use holograms to bestow super powers, and that the university is OK with this? Since optics is your discipline, I thought you would be interested.”

Damn, gotta buy one of those bracers to go with my homeopathy therapy. Yeah, i’m using it to cure a rash i got from sitting in church too long. I was asking for god’s help to save me from the aliens, cause they are out there and surely they are coming for me! Gotta stay cool… eh, its gonna be easy, since there’s no global warming anyway. Seriously, who would ever believe those silly claims made by scientists?

This kind of junk pisses me off with the fraud undertaken to convince the uninformed and uneducated of something inaccurate and untrue. Like someone else pointed out, if they seriously believed that this stuff worked, great, but they have to trick people into believing that it works.

But, that’s college for you.

(: (Kidding btw. College is good for you, as long as the first thing you learn is to think for yourself and not for what your teachers tell you to think).

WELL! Skeptic120 posts on youtube that, as a mechanical engineer (University of Spurious, I think) that these bands DO WORK! Athletes use them! Disses the interviewer, Richard Saunders, because he isn’t a scientist, just an out-of-work actor. But…he’s in this video…looks like he might be working. Well, he IS a mechanical engineer.
Now, I’m in a REAL quandary! Do I believe Skeptic120? Do I believe Phil Plait? What to do? What to do?

@#40 Quiet Desperation: *rofl* Wow, you brought back some memories. I know what you mean, though – ugh. That show’s heart was in the right place (the little kid’s finger?) but I think it’s a bit disingenuous to teach impressionable young children that the rainforests are being cut down by ONE really fat white guy, just for the deliciously evil fun of it.
Also, thanks to that show, I learned that drugs always make you think that you can fly by jumping off a roof.

As far as the demo-crashing, I’m a crappy actor and I live in a small town that’s kinda out of the way. I do hope someone tries something like this, though.

@#48 Grimbold: Hah, that’s actually a great idea. I’m sure they’d be a lot less likely to put up with this nonsense then someone who’s (indirectly) profiting from it.

@#51 John Paradox: Hell, when I was in third grade I had a lunchbox with a giant 3D dragon hologram on the front! It must have have 10 times the… holographic-ness of those little button thingies on the bracelets. And yet, I was always picked last in sports.
I probably should have taken my lunchbox onto the field with me.

@#25 J. Major: I think that’s a big part of it – we’re so surrounded by nifty new gadgets that seem to be able to do anything, and at the same time the exact technology that makes them tick is becoming more and more incomprehensible to anyone by specialists in those fields. It’s not THAT surprising that people might see something stupid like this and think “Sure, energy fields. That’s how my iPad knows where my hand is, right?”

The dealer in this video seemed to genuinely in it. I was convinced that he did until the debunking proved he was deliberately tricking people with his demonstration.

While he’s clearly doing it, I’m not convinced that he is doing it deliberately. There’s not a lot of difference between the two types of pushing, so it would be easy not to realize that there even is a difference. If he were doing it deliberately, I think he likely would have succeeded in unbalancing Mr. Saunders on the first attempt. Instead, his first attempt appears to have been pushing pretty much straight down, and so it took him a couple tries.

My mother once did a somewhat similar demonstration on me that was supposed to show qi flow. When I tried it on my wife, I got the same results. I figured that we must be doing something differently between the “open qi” and “closed qi” variations, but I wasn’t able to work out exactly what it was, even though I was clearly doing it myself.

As in that scenario, all this is really demonstrating is the critical importance of double-blinding.

We should just resort to mocking CU. “Make the power bands go away, or we’ll taunt you a second time,” says I in an outRAGeous French accent.

Every bit of medical and sport woo, when mocking that, add “endorsed by the University of Colorado.” Show up to CU sporting events with signs showing crystal healing and accuse the opposition of being reptoids. Once CU is treated more like Phoenix University, they might get the picture. They’re in the business, after all, of selling a RESPECTABLE education.

Oh God! Just reading thier explanations of how it worked made my eyes want to bleed. It felt like it was sucking the vibration right out of them causing my cells to stop sticking together. The anguish it caused my poor little brain was like a thousand voices suddenly crying out in terror.

Off topic, I heard that the LHC has started smacking lead ions together. Can someone let me know if it’s destroyed the world yet?

I think that’s a big part of it – we’re so surrounded by nifty new gadgets that seem to be able to do anything, and at the same time the exact technology that makes them tick is becoming more and more incomprehensible to anyone by specialists in those fields. It’s not THAT surprising that people might see something stupid like this and think “Sure, energy fields. That’s how my iPad knows where my hand is, right?”

Too true.

A part of this is the way the manufacturers of electronics (PCs, ipods etc.) are making the user interface ever more flashy while trying to keep the user ever more distant from the actual operation of the device.

If you don’t believe me, install QuickTime viewer on a Windows PC, and then try to take it out of the “begin at startup” list. It goes away … and then comes back!

Doesn’t the FDA have a requirement for effectiveness? And indeed safety? I wonder if the FDA has a position on these things… If they are promoting them as benefiting health etc. the FDA might be able to hit them with all sorts of requirements under the medical device regulations etc…

@69 MarcusBailus: The FDA doesn’t have any reason to regulate rubberbands. Or silicon bands. Whatever. The answer to “That person is tricking people!” shouldn’t be “Take away his right to speech!” it should be “Educate the people about it!” like Phil is doing. The University should be shamed for doing this, but it gets away with a lot of other more deliberate manipulation of people that is a lot more harmful than losing 30 bucks on shysters.

Universities should be a place where the freedom of speech, even speech that the government or the public disagrees with, is unfettered. That way the best ideas come out. You’ll note that while this university has the bands with their logo’s, they don’t have any Majors in Homeopathy or Chiropracty, and there are no classes on the “Autism Epidemic and Vaccination”. The best ideas arise from freedom, not limiting speech, even when that speech pisses you off.

Phil says: “[T]here’s no such thing as your body’s frequency.” One of my Physics profs, however, made the point that particles, even really big particles like people, may have some calculable wave-particle properties, including a de Broglie frequency (or wavelength). So this proves that the claims about the body frequency are validated by quantum mechanics, right? RIGHT??

Well… as a practical matter, not really, no. This is one of many situations in which having a basic understanding of science and mathematics can help a reasonable person sort out fact from fertilizer.

It should be noted that the universities have signed agreements to promote “Power Force” and not “Power Bands.”. Power Bands claim to work by means of a hologram and frequencies, but the Power Force band makes a vague claim that it is infused with “ions” to boost the body’s inner force. So it is a variation (and not a very good one) on a theme.

With regard to the question of education, sport and intelligence, the academic writer, and former Head of Westminster School, Dr John Rae, has written of how sports were first introduced into British schools, some centuries ago, to, rather ironically, “tame the student mob”, coming to take on “all the attributes of a religion”, with the teachers becoming “even greater devotees” than the pupils (Rae quotes a cartoon from a Victorian edition of “Punch”: “Teacher to Pupil: “Of course you needn’t work, Fitzmilksoppe, but play you must and shall.””).

As Dr Rae put it: “Sports were seen as important for the development of character, and character considered as superior to intellect.”

The historian, James Morris, in his history of the British Empire, writes of how, as the Empire expanded, and the tasks facing its various administrators became increasingly larger and more complex, so the standard sports-biased education became less and less appropriate to their needs.

Kipling wrote his famous lines, attacking “the flannelled fools at the wicket; the muddied oafs at the goal”, in protest at the way this country placed sports ahead of other, more significant, priorities.

In the course of my researches, I have come across numerous complaints on American Websites concerning the way in which “athletes” are considered more popular than “scholars” on American campuses, and how spending on sports facilities is viewed more favourably than spending on facilities for gifted students. As one commentator put it: “If those charged with education are unwilling to defend the importance of education, who should be expected to do so?”

Those who learn nothing from history may be doomed to repeat it – including those who were taught that sport was more important than history, and those who did the teaching.

# The negative-ions in Trion:Z’s officially licensed collegiate series wristbands are released in measurable and significant amounts at rates 50 to 100 time higher than competing brands.
# Trion:Z products will maintain their negative-ion producing properties when wet- they?re functional in the shower, ocean, and the pool.

@Nigel Depledge: That’s why I’m never buying an iPhone or any such thing. I love my Android phone. It’s got a linux command line (usable from the phone itself or as a terminal from your PC), and if you do a little irregular OS upgrading, you can get full root privileges

According to the ESPN Video, two brothers made up the Power Balance bracelet and sold $8,000 worth the first year and now $17 million last year (or whenever the video was made). Again, sometimes I wish I had no scruples so I could make millions selling people $0.30 plastic bracelets for a hundred times what they cost me. Wow.

I am sorry to hear that any variation on the Power Balance bracelet is being used as a fundraiser for the college campus. It’s not new, though, for that seeming contradiction, the sale of cookies to raise funds for wholesome activities for Scouts, for example, to take place. The worst of it, however, is that the Power Balance bracelets, and their analogs, are in contradiction to science and critical thinking, the very concepts we hope our children would be learning on the college campus — not buying and wearing the bracelets that have the college logo and even suggesting the belief in their power.

Here is a link to the Independent Investigations Group’s (IIG) preliminary report on our test of Power Balance. Richard Saunders’ explanation of Applied Kinesiology has been awesome! The IIG now has tested Power Balance’s claims of balance, flexibility and strength. The report as shown on Yahoo News, left out a lot; but our final report will be thorough.http://www.iigwest.org

The placebo effect is obviously what allows con men to cheat their naïve victims for presumably millions of dollars.
The existence of the placebo effect does not justify the action of using it to bilk the public.
If these people marketed these things by saying “We have a whole range of placebos which will work wonders for you, provided you believe in them. So send us your money please” I would not mind so much, as long as they said please, of course. They might add that these might become collectibles after they come to be recognized for the swindle that they are.

As it stands, these people are thieves and should be brought to justice. This is a job for the FBI.

As for the universities, they are supposed to exist to educate people. This implies a duty to denounce flimflammery, be it or not it is associated with their name or logo.

If it bears their logo, by not denouncing it, they become jointly responsible for a great disservice to the public, and they should be held accountable.

Maybe university administrators should start wearing rubber bands to protect themselves, just in case the FBI decides to investigate.

I hope they are not getting any money for their inaction, the thought is too horrible to entertain, universities aiding and abetting. No, that could not happen, or could it?

There is a name for this propensity to do anything for money.
Can’t remember it right now, but then, English is not my native tongue.

Some refer to that by associating it with “the oldest profession”, I am not sure what that means.

P.-S. Please feel no obligation to explain it to me, I which to keep my innocence.

“In the course of my researches, I have come across numerous complaints on American Websites concerning the way in which “athletes” are considered more popular than “scholars” on American campuses, and how spending on sports facilities is viewed more favourably than spending on facilities for gifted students. As one commentator put it: ‘If those charged with education are unwilling to defend the importance of education, who should be expected to do so?'”

I am downright ashamed of my alma mater, Rutgers University. The university administration has spent huge amounts of money to build a gigantic new football stadium that was never needed (the only one was fine) and cut down a lot of trees in the process. The place stands out like a sore thumb. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on the football program, especially to pay coaches huge salaries. One even had a house built for him. At the same time, every academic support program from tutors to library hours to number of full time professors to health care providers is being cut left and right. Football “stars” get full scholarships including room and board as long as they maintain a C average while A students have to finance their educations almost entirely with loans. A university is an academic institution, not an athletic institution. I will never donate money to any Rutgers organizations until this is reversed.